tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7073370138460610500.post8449746586162036985..comments2024-02-26T10:06:10.741+01:00Comments on Blogdahl: Storkøbenhavn hævner HCALars Bukdahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12609665059758562219noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7073370138460610500.post-38030798525907941332017-07-14T23:21:46.982+02:002017-07-14T23:21:46.982+02:00The Danish author of fairytales such as The Ugly D...The Danish author of fairytales such as The Ugly Duckling first visited England in June 1847. He was a guest of the Countess of Blessington, who attracted the cream of Europe's intelligentsia to her gatherings.<br /><br />It was at one of these assemblies that Andersen was introduced to Dickens, whom he worshipped, calling him "the greatest writer of our time".<br /><br />Dickens, who reciprocated the admiration, visiting him at his lodgings the following month. Discovering that Andersen was not in, he left him a parcel containing 12 presentation copies of his books, of which the Olympia example is one.<br /><br />A cordial correspondence developed between the two and Andersen returned to England for a fortnight as Dickens's guest at Gad's Hill in the summer of 1857. Before his arrival, Andersen had written to Dickens, promising: "I shall not inconvenience you too much." But it was an invitation that Dickens would soon regret.<br /><br />The Danish man of letters, a tall, gaunt and rather ungainly character stayed for five weeks.<br /><br />Dickens dropped polite hints that he should leave. After he finally left, Dickens wrote on the mirror in the guestroom: "Hans Andersen slept in this room for five weeks - which seemed to the family AGES!"<br /><br />To the Dickens family it was eternal torment. Dickens's daughter, Kate, would later recall that Andersen "was a bony bore, and stayed on and on".<br /><br />He was, she added, "a social blockhead. Andersen never quite understood why Dickens ceased to answer any of his letters".Lars Bukdahlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12609665059758562219noreply@blogger.com